1. Field of the Invention
The present invention generally relates to stock materials or static structures that are weakened to permit separation, and specifically, to a “step shim” for assorted shimming applications.
2. Description of the Related Art
In the construction industry, during the installation of fixtures such as windows, doors, cabinets and the like, it is usually desired that the fixtures be installed in a level or vertical and square position. To accomplish this, a leveling shim or spacer is usually placed in the gap that exists between, for example, a truly vertical fixture (e.g., a door jam) and the non-vertical, surrounding support structure (e.g., at a height of 80″ above the intersection point of the support structure and the underlying floor, the support structure is ¼″ to the left of where it needs to be in order for it to be truly vertical). The purpose of the shim is to hold the fixture in its desired vertical orientation prior to the fixture being adhered to the support structure and to subsequently (i.e., once the fixture is adhered to the support structure) possibly act as a load bearing member to keep the fixture in its desired orientation.
In the past it had been necessary for the construction worker to fabricate the shim or spacer on the construction site from scrap materials available. A common source of such scrap materials was wooden shingles or shakes used for siding or roofing.
Such leveling shims or spacers are today commercially available items in most building supply type stores. The most commonly incurred types of these shims have, from a side view, a wedge shaped configuration in which the two straight lines that are seen as the edges of the top and bottom faces of the shim diverge from effectively a single point which, for the purpose of this discussion, we'll identify as the front or point end of the shim. These diverging lines continue to spread apart until the distance or height between them at the back end of the shim is a set amount, typically ¼″ and with the back end of the shim, as measured along the shim's longitudinal centerline, being 12″ from the shim's front end. We refer to such a shim as a ¼″×12″ length, wedge shim.
To use a wedge shim in the application mentioned above (i.e., squaring up a door jam), at any desired point along the gap between the top and bottom of the door jam, one just pushes the shim's front end into the gap in such a manner that the shim's centerline goes into the gap perpendicular to the gap's leading edge. Once the shim becomes wedged or stuck in the gap and can go no further inward, one uses a knife or razor cutter to score (i.e., make an indentation into the top surface of the shim that will serve as a fault line along which the shim will break if its back end is folded forward toward the gap) the shim's top surface and then bends the shim so as to break it along its score line so that the exposed part of the shim can be removed and discarded. Depending upon the height or width of the gap at the point where the shim is inserted, the shim's front end will extend into the gap a proportional distance (e.g., for a ¼″×12″ wedge shim and a 1/16″ gap height, the shim's front end will extend approximately 3″ perpendicularly into the gap and, after the scoring and breaking, result in 9″ of the shim being discarded).
This variation of how far into the gap a wedge shim will extend can be problematic. For example and in the situation where ¼″×12″ wedge shims are being used, if the structure to be leveled or made vertical is not that wider than 12″, the situation can occur where the free end of the shim extends totally under and then beyond the opposite side of the structure (e.g., if the structure is 6″ wide and the gap ⅜″ high, a ¼″×12″ wedge shim will extend 3″ beyond the opposite side of the structure). This causes yet more work for the fabricator, since he will now also have to score the extending top face of the shim and break off and discard this extending portion.
Another problem with the use of such ¼″×12″ wedge shims can occur when the high of the gap is greater then ¼″. This situation will require the use of at least three shims. For example, for a ⅜″ gap height, two shims will be placed one on to of the other so that their front ends face away from each other so as to created a ¼″ height spacer. The final required ⅛″ of gap height is shimmed with the third shim that will extend 6″ into the gap. The use of three or more shims for such larger gap heights can quickly result in excessive numbers of ¼″×12″ wedge shims being required to shim a fixture to a structure that has such larger or wider gaps.
To reduce the workload required to level, make vertical or shim a fixture, and to reduce the number of shims required to be used in such tasks, an improved shim or method of shimming is needed.